Another World
by aaramlexiaa
Summary: Ron, Hermione, Charlie, and Tonks are accidentially transported to another world with no idea on how they are going to get back.
1. Default Chapter

Title: Another World

Author: Aaramlexia

Pairings: R/Hr & C/T

Summary: Post OoTP, while cleaning out the attic of 12 Grimmaund place Ron, Hermione, Charlie, and Tonks are transported to another world with no clue as to how they're ever going to get back.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine.

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Hermione couldn't help but notice how cute Ron looked when he wrinkled his nose in disgust. She also couldn't help but agree with his silent assessment of the attic of 12 Grimmauld place. The attic was huge, spanning the entire length of the house. It was also covered in a very thick layer of dust. But what really disheartened Hermione was the sheer volume of odd knickknacks stored haphazardly in the space. It was going to take ages to get the place cleaned up!

"Ginny's going to pay for weaseling her way out of helping with this mess if it's the last thing I do!"

"Ron, stop being so melodramatic, it won't be that bad."

"Easy for you to say, Hermione. No one's _forcing _you to help straighten this place up."

Charlie, who was standing directly behind Ron, wasn't very thrilled with their new cleaning task either and let out a groan of frustration over the mess in front of them.

"I can't believe Mum's making us clean the attic! Leave it to Mum to want to clean a room nobody's ever going to set foot in."

"Yeah, well I can't believe that you're letting Mum order you around," Ron replied teasingly as he and Charlie stepped into the room, "Twenty-one and you're still bowing down to Mummy, no wonder you haven't got a girlfriend."

"Well if that's my excuse what's yours? Personally, I'd give looks and personality equal odds," Charlie shot back, "What do you think, Hermione?"

Hermione pretended to be deep in thought upon said subject as she entered the room before replying rather haughtily, "I don't think Ron has a problem with getting a girlfriend…"

"Ha! See I'm irresistible! Aren't I, Hermione?" Ron interjected as he slung his arm around her shoulders and raised his eyebrows at her.

Hermione ignored Ron and tried to suppress her growing grin as she continued, "Like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, before Ron can even have a problem with getting a girl to go out him he'll need to find one who will even talk to him!"

Hermione and Charlie broke out laughing but Ron seemed rather putout, if the growing flush on his face was any indication.

"Hey! I don't have any problems with getting girls to talk to me."

"Wotcher, Ron, what're you yelling about up here?" Tonks questioned as she strolled, actually, more like tripped her way into the attic.

"You're absolutely right, Ron, as Tonks here demonstrated, you can get girls to talk to you. Oh, I'm so proud of my baby brother!"

As Charlie leapt on Ron and gave him an exaggerated version of one of Mrs. Weasley's hugs, if that was even possible, Hermione turned her attention away from the brothers to evaluate the task at hand.

Charlie and Tonks would bear the brunt of the work. The attic defiantly had many items that needed be examined and handled by use of magic, and that was just from the small portion of the room she could see! She and Ron would have to cover the more menial task of cleaning and dealing with the known objects that would pose no threats to their safety. Luckily, once they were done with this room they would have to do no more cleaning that summer.

The attic had been the one room Mrs. Weasley had not got around to cleaning since the order had made 12 Grimmauld Place headquarters the summer before. It had been a shock to Hermione when she had found out she would be spending another summer at Grimmauld Place. After the events at the end of their fifth year she had assumed that the order would move the location of headquarters. Not only were there many painful memories of Sirius attached to the house but Kreatcher's betrayal had shown that 12 Grimmauld Place was not as secure as they had all believed. But the order members and most importantly Dumbledore still considered it a secure location, and the order could not spare the resources needed to move the headquarters.

And so here Hermione had resided since the end of school, not allowed to return home because of the risks associated with being one of Harry Potter's best friends. It had not been so bad. Ron and Ginny had also spent the summer locked up in Grimmauld Place, and since the previous summer had also featured practical imprisonment in the old house it hadn't taken long to get used to.

Of course, it was still quite different. Hermione had to admit, even she missed Sirius. The twins hardly ever stopped by, they were too busy with their joke shop and if they did it usually had to do with some order business. Tonks, to Hermione's surprise, was also being forced to stay at headquarters. Officially, it was to protect Hermione, Ron, and Ginny if anything happened, but everybody knew it was to keep her away from any action. Tonks was still recovering from her injuries at the ministry of magic, and had become someone who Hermione could commiserate with. They were both still having potions forced down their throats daily, and people treated them as if they were invalids which ticked both of them off as neither witch was really feeling the effects of their injuries anymore.

Another mainstay at Grimmaund place that Hermione was becoming quite attached to was Charlie, who had appeared quite mysteriously at the breakfast table one morning a week after she, Ron, and Ginny had arrived. He was not at all what Hermione had expected and was pleased to find that he was much different than _certain_ brothers in his treatment of Ron. The two had become quite close over the course of the summer to the point that sometimes Hermione had to remind herself that Ron and Charlie were brothers and not best friends.

It was those brothers who interrupted her reverie when the two, rolling around on the floor, bumped into a dresser and sent a lamp falling to the ground with a loud crash. Apparently the hug had turned into an all out wrestling match. Hermione was ready to yell at them to break it up (after all they were supposed to be cleaning not making a bigger mess!) when Tonks, who was standing beside her and avidly watching the two Weasley's asked, "So, who do you think will win? My money's on Charlie He does work with dragons, you know, Ron doesn't stand a chance."

Hermione couldn't help but feel a little defensive of Ron. Didn't stand a chance?

"I think that you are quite mistaken, Ron can keep up with Charlie, in fact, he is quite a bit taller."

"Yeah, but Charlie's thicker, I bet he's got quite a bit of muscle!"

Hermione was quite incensed at this remark, so what; did Ron not have any muscles?

"Ron's got muscles too! I bet he wins!"

Tonks seemed delighted at this remark, "Okay, 5 galleons to whoever's fighter pins the other first?"

Hermione became a little apprehensive at this, gambling?

Tonks, perhaps sensing Hermione's indecision couldn't help but make the decision a little easier for her, "Of course I could understand if you backed out, I mean, Ron against Charlie? No contest."

"I'm not backing out, Ron will beat Charlie, I take your bet!"

The two women shook hands; but did not get to see the outcome of the fight when Mrs. Weasley strode into the room at that very moment.

"CHARLIE ANDREW AND RONALD BILIOUS WEASLEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE CLEANING THE ATTIC NOT DESTROYING IT!"

Hermione was surprised at just how quickly they both managed to get up off the floor. She was also relieved that their mollified expressions and apologies quickly appeased Mrs. Weasley and she left before Hermione became anymore embarrassed than she already was. She couldn't help but feel guilty at her behavior. Although she was the youngest of the four she also promised Mrs. Weasley that she would make sure that no one would slack off and the attic would be clean by dinner. She should have never let everyone get off track.

Tonks, however, did not feel the same way, "Shame that that was broken up," she announced while shooting a grin Hermione's way, "but all was not for naught. Did I hear her correctly, Mr. Charlie ANDREW Weasley?"

Hermione didn't see what was so special about having Andrew as a middle name but apparently everyone else did as a blush crept up Charlie's neck and Ron and Tonks both sniggered for quite some time.

"Yep," Ron finally replied, "Mum was going through a faze when she had Charlie, we're not supposed to talk about it" he added a fake cough that sounded suspiciously like freak in Charlie's direction for emphasis.

It must be a wizarding family thing Hermione surmised. She dismissed all thoughts of the oddity of her companions and instead got down to business.

"Okay, first we should start with the dust. Then we can set up areas for different items. One pile for trash, another for things to keep, and a third…"

She was going to have this place cleaned up so fast that Mrs. Weasley couldn't help but forget about her momentary lapse of judgment.


	2. Chapter Two

Ron couldn't decide if he was mildly amused or mildly annoyed by Hermione's bossiness. After a while of having her breathing down their necks over every little task he and Charlie had strayed to the opposite side of the attic from the girls. Sadly, their plan of pawning off the fanatical prefect onto Tonks had only partially succeeded. Every few minutes Hermione would come over to check on their progress and find at least one thing they, well, mostly Ron, weren't doing to her satisfaction. Ron didn't mind though, after five years he had gotten used to her incessant nagging and had even begun to be comforted by it.

If Hermione was lecturing him about one of his faults, then all was right with the world. The fact that it usually led to a fight didn't bother Ron. Sure, it was strange, but he liked fighting with Hermione. Most of the time he would reassure himself that it was only because it added some spice to his otherwise boring life but, who was he kidding? His best friend was Harry Potter for Merlin's sake. If he were really to be truthful with himself he'd probably have to admit there were some ulterior and not so platonic reasons behind the constant sparring, at least on his side.

Ron idly wondered if Hermione would let them take a break and grab something to eat. Sure, they had had lunch barely over an hour ago but he was a growing boy, he needed his nutrition. Ron was sure he could get Charlie to agree to his plan and Tonks did look pretty miserable over on her side of the attic with Hermione but Ron was a little frightened to even mention the idea to Hermione. If Hermione had changed any over the summer it was defiantly to become more controlling, as if she wasn't controlling enough!

Even scarier, she had reminded him of his mother the other day. The very thought had made him shudder. So of course both his mother and Hermione had come bearing down upon him to check his temperature and make sure he wasn't getting sick. It had just made the frightening comparison all the more valid!

Rather than dwell upon the similarities between his mother and Hermione any longer Ron turned his attention to another task he wasn't so excited about. His most recently assigned project by Ms. Granger herself was to clean out the far corner of the attic. He'd already been working on it for half an hour and he still couldn't see the wall. On top of that Hermione had been over at least five times to see what was taking him so long.

Ron couldn't help but do an imitation of Hermione in an especially shrill voice, "Oh Ron, you're still not finished cleaning out that big, dusty corner that is absolutely full of heavy, cumbersome objects I wouldn't even be able to move!"

At least he was still capable of amusing himself.

Ten minutes, one very rowdy coat rack, three mischievous pixies, a desk, and one visit from Hermione later Ron discovered a very interesting mirror. It was tall, reaching almost the full height of Ron's six foot one frame and twice as wide as him. Its wrought iron frame looked really old, and not just because it'd been who knew how long since someone had cleaned it. At the top a huge ruby was embedded in the frame. There was something about it that beckoned to Ron, he had to touch it. Almost as soon as he touched the stone the mirror started to change. The surface became cloudy and started to glow a faint shade of blue that looked almost white. The surface also seemed to be moving, it looked like the Hogwarts Lake did when it was particularly windy. Ron had the distinct feeling that if he were to try to touch it his hand would go straight through.

But what really intrigued Ron about the mirror was the intense feeling of magic it gave off. It was so strong that he had never wanted anything more in his life than to be closer to it. It was the strongest feeling of magic he'd ever felt in his life, actually. For that very reason Ron held himself back from giving into temptation and stepping nearer. His parents had always taught him to never trust a highly magical object that had no practical reason to be so. More often than not that meant dark magic was involved. And something so powerful shouldn't have just been sitting around in someone's attic, not even the Black's who had had some very strong and very dark magical items in their house. Why hadn't he felt it's magic sooner, he felt if he were to run to the basement he would still fell the mirror's presence. What if it was a trap? But who could have placed it there?

Ron was so caught up in his contemplation of the mirror that he hadn't even noticed Hermione walk up behind him.

"Ron, what are you doing just standing there. We still have half the attic to clean."

Rather than respond Ron just continued to stare mutely at the mirror. Ron didn't even notice that Hermione had also become transfixed by the mirror's magic until some time later when he felt Charlie shaking him.

"Come on, Ron. We should get away from here. Whatever that is I don't think it's very safe. You were an inch away from touching that mirror before I even realized that all three of us had been staring at it for five minutes."

Ron felt pretty shaken up. He hadn't even known that he was reaching out to the mirror until Charlie had stopped him.

Both men averted their gaze from the mirror and turned around to shake Hermione from her trance just in time for Ron to see the catastrophe unfold.

Tonks was the last to arrive to see what all the commotion was about. Standing right behind her was the coat rack that had been giving Ron problems earlier. It was also at that very moment pulling her feet out from under her. She had been standing right next to Hermione who was standing next to Charlie who of course was right next to Ron. Tonks stumbled into Hermione and before Ron could even think to do something they were all falling through the surface of the mirror.


	3. Chapter Three

When Charlie regained consciousness he decided to never complain about traveling by floo powder again. The trip through the mirror had been the most disorienting and nausea inducing trip of his life. Not to mention the splitting headache he was now sporting. Then again, the stone ledge his head had come into contact with the moment he had landed could have caused that.

As Charlie sat up a wave of dizziness overtook him and he probably would have toppled over on his own if Tonks hadn't tried to catch him and caused both of them to fall to the ground together. He found himself practically lying on top of her but he didn't feel too inclined to get up. She made a great pillow; especially compared to the cold stone floor he had had previously been lying on. However, he was forced to sit up when a very embarrassed Tonks had asked him none too politely to get the hell off of her.

Once in a sitting position Charlie was able to really take in their surroundings. His attention was immediately drawn to the mirror standing to the right of him, which looked exactly like the one in the attic of Grimmauld place, but all he could see was his reflection. Sadly they weren't going to be traveling back through that anytime soon.

They were in a big stone cavern, which reminded him in size and shape of the caves back on the dragon preserve in Romania. He doubted, that they were lucky enough to have been transported to Romania. For one, the drawings on the cave walls and the benches carved into the cave sides made him believe that humans, not dragons, had once resided there. In fact, it looked like no animals; not even insects had taken up residence in the cave since it had been abandoned. That thought and its implications were quite disturbing and made Charlie want to get out of the cave as soon as possible.

That would have to wait though, since Ron was still passed out next to him. The huge bruise forming on one side of his face gave testament to the fact that he was four inches taller than Charlie. The ledge that had knocked both men out had sure done more damage to Ron. Charlie figured the only reason it had been able to knock him out was because the trip through the mirror had been tough on his body's sense of equilibrium, so he doubted he had been out for very long.

"Were you two hurt?" he asked the girls who were fussing over Ron.

"Nah," replied Tonks, "luckily we're shorter than the two of you so all we experienced was a bit of dizziness. But you guys had a nasty encounter with that ledge. The mirror actually stayed all translucent and shimmery or whatever for a few minutes after we came through…"

"What! We had a chance to go back and you guys didn't take it," Charlie practically yelled.

"Yeah, I wanted to just toss you guys back through and go home too but Hermione wouldn't go."

Charlie furiously rounded on Hermione who was examining the large bump on Ron's head, "What were you thinking? We don't know where we are or how dangerous this place is. That was our chance to get back home!"

Charlie regretted his words when he saw the expression on Hermione's face, which he didn't doubt was what he had once heard Ron refer to simply as 'the look' with a mixture of fear and awe in his voice.

"So what did you want us to do, huh, mister? Did you want us to just toss you guys back through the mirror as Tonks put it even though Ron already has a concussion and whatever we just went through seems to have a destabilizing effect on the human body!" Hermione had a crazed look in her eye as she steadily advanced on him until their faces were just inches apart, "Do you know what that could have done to him?"

Charlie decided it would be safer to look at his feet rather than in the eyes of the five foot four fifteen year old in front of him. Ron was right, she was pretty damn scary when she was mad. Apparently Hermione took his uneasiness as a no.

"I don't know either, but I do know there was no way I was taking the chance that that could have harmed Ron. Not to mention that we don't even know if that mirror would have taken us back to Grimmauld Place." She was defiantly on a role, "For all we know there could be a hundred of those mirrors all hooked up together and we could have ended up anywhere. So next time, since you seem to think it was the way to go, I'll let Tonks toss you through and I'll stay here with Ron. Even though he's your brother which, by the way, you haven't even shown any concern for yet!"

"Now, do you know how to fix concussions?"

The total switch in topics threw Charlie for a loop but rather than dwell on just how right Hermione was, or just how much he doesn't think he decided to gratefully take Hermione up on her method of redeeming himself.

"Of course, you have to working with dragons every day. Accidents are bound to happen."

"Good," Hermione replied matter of factly, "because Tonks isn't very good at healing spells and I've never actually tried to perform the concussion healing spell so I didn't want to chance it."

"What, Hermione Granger, the smartest witch at Hogwarts is afraid she'll mess up a spell?"

Charlie had to admit Tonks was pretty brave, even he wouldn't say something like that to Hermione and he liked to pride himself on telling it like it is.

Surprisingly, Hermione didn't seem offended but merely looked down at Ron, who looked white as a sheet and responded softly, "Not when a friend's health is at stake."

As Charlie performed the spell on Ron he had to wonder if Hermione was telling the whole truth. He knew he certainly didn't look at friends the way Hermione had looked at Ron.

Once he had revived a very woozy Ron Charlie turned his attention to other matters. Like, what in the world were they going to do now?

Molly Weasley wondered what was taking so long to clean the attic. At lunch time Hermione had made it sound like it would only take three or four more hours to finish up the attic but that had been six hours ago. Even more peculiar, it was dinnertime and she was sure either Ron or Charlie would have been down to eat by now.

Arthur, Remus, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Ginny were already at the table. Rather than wait for everyone up in the attic to realize it was time for dinner she decided to send Ginny to fetch them.

"Ginny, run up to the attic and tell everyone it's time for dinner."

Molly was starting to wonder weather everyone were playing some joke on her when Ginny finally returned five minutes later. The look on Ginny's face erased all thoughts of pranks from her mind, however.

"I can't find them anywhere. I checked the attic, all their rooms, and even Buckbeak's room. They're not here."

Molly felt the panic begin to rise in her chest as all the men stood up from the table.

"Are you sure they didn't go anywhere, Molly?" Remus asked.

"Yes, they know not to leave the house," Molly could fell herself start to hyperventilate, what if one of her babies were hurt?

"Everyone just calm down," Arthur instructed, "Kingsley, Remus, you two search the house for them, any intruders, or signs of a scuffle."

"Right," Kingsley replied, "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to contact Dumbledore."

"But what if they're truly gone?" Molly asked no one in particular.

"Don't worry, Mum," Ginny piped up, "They can take care of themselves."

"I hope," was all Molly could reply, "I hope."


	4. Chapter Four

It figures, Tonks thought, that I'd get stuck falling through some creepy mirror with one teenage know-it-all and two Weasleys, which she decided was the most stubborn family she'd ever met. The three of them had been arguing over what to do next since Ron had woken up. She was starting to wonder if she even liked the people. Nah, she was just being melodramatic. Hermione could be pretty bossy, but the two of them had become pretty good friends over the summer. And Ron could actually be pretty fun to hang around with. And Charlie, well, she had been noticing some interesting things about him all summer.

In school they had both been in Gryffindor. Tonks had even been just one year ahead of Charlie. But she had never really seen the appeal of the star quidditch player like most of the girls in the school had. To be truthful, she had had quite a crush on the older Bill during their Hogwarts days and Charlie had never been able to compete with his brother in her eyes. Now she wondered if Charlie had always been this good looking, if he had always been so good-natured or had his great sense of humor. Of course, all his daring stories of dealing with dragons might have had something to do with her newly acquired crush. There was something about a man who dealt with danger everyday that she found appealing. Which was pretty ironic since she couldn't even think of her fellow auror members in that way and nobody had a more dangerous line of work than the aurors.

Finally, Tonks got tired of listening to Hermione detail every single bad thing that could happen to them if they left the cave and Ron yelling, "Yeah, well, if we stay here waiting for that mirror to change back I'll tell you what will happen to us; we'll all starve to death!" What these people needed was a little direction.

"Enough! Ron's right, we can't stay here forever. However, I also agree with Hermione, we can't just leave the mirror. Sorry, Charlie, but between these two I couldn't even hear what you're idea was," she shot a grin towards Charlie who didn't seem to mind before continuing, "Now, I would like to introduce an idea that neither of you two seemed to consider. Charlie, Ron, if you would, try to pick up the mirror."

Between the two they easily lifted the gigantic mirror.

"Just as I suspected! Not only does it look and feel like an ordinary mirror it weighs about the same. So, as the oldest member of this group I have decided we are going to leave the cave and take the mirror with us."

After she finished her speech Tonks wondered if maybe it weren't such a good idea to bring up the age issue, as nobody looked too happy with her.

"Er, what I meant to say was since we all have equal say in what we do I suggest that we follow my plan of action?"

"I still think we should at least wait here a day or two to see if the mirror will reactivate."

"And I'm telling you, Hermione, that that mirror was radiating magic and I bet it took a lot of power to transport all four of us here. If that mirror were going to power up again we'd feel it!"

"You don't know that Ron. None of us know how the mirror works."

"And that's…"

"Precisely why we shouldn't put any of our hopes into it," Charlie quickly finished for Ron so that he wouldn't make Hermione any madder, "I must say that I agree with Tonks. This way we're exploring all avenues of getting home."

"Me, too," Ron added, "That's three against one. You're out voted."

"Fine, but I'm not comfortable with this."

"Well," Tonks said, "Might as well get moving. But which way do we head?"

"This way," Charlie replied, pointing to their right, "You can tell by the patterns in the rock."

So Tonks took one end of the mirror and Ron the other while Charlie led the way and Hermione brought up the rear of their little procession.

It felt like hours later that they finally came to an opening in the cave wall. Charlie was the first to look out at the landscape before them. His only way of describing it was "Whoa."

And when Tonks was finally able to see the landscape before them she had to agree with Charlie.

"Wow."


	5. Chapter Five

Ginny Weasley had felt a lot of regret and a lot of guilt in her short lifetime. She had practically drowned in it after being possessed by Tom Riddle in her first year. But as she got older, and, as she liked to think, wiser, she had come to realize a few things. One, regrets are pointless. It's too late to change whatever you did wrong, so recognize your mistake, make sure that you've learned from it, and move on. Two, some things just aren't under your control. So, instead of feeling guilty, take charge and assert control over the situation. And third, if it was your fault, instead of wallowing in guilt about it, take corrective action.

Although nobody had ever really blamed Ginny for what happened with Tom Riddle, Ginny knew that she was at least partly responsible. There had been many times when she had thought about telling somebody about the odd nature of her diary, and the fact that she never did had been a source of much private shame and guilt. But, the true wrongdoer had been Riddle. Although Ginny had had a part in the whole affair she had ultimately decided to let all of her self loathing feelings go and instead focus on what she could do to make herself a more valuable witch in the fight to defeat Voldemort.

Still, Ginny couldn't help but feel a little guilty that she had wormed her way out of helping to clean the attic. Whatever had happened to her brothers, Tonks, and Hermione; she should have been there too. Because they were her family, all of them, and family stick together to the end. So instead of letting the guilt set in or getting caught up in imagining all the bad things that could have befallen them, she decided to do something about it. She was going to figure out where they were and she was going to get them back.

Arthur Weasley was worried. Two of his children, another he felt for as if she were his own, and an important order member were missing. Not only were they missing, but they were missing from a supposedly secure location where one of his other children still resided. He had wanted to immediately evacuate Molly and Ginny. Typically, neither would hear of it and Dumbledore's message that everyone should sit tight until he got there had effectively squashed the notion. So, they stayed and waited, hoping Dumbledore would be able to fix everything when he got there.

In the meantime about a dozen order members had arrived. Bill, Remus, and Kingsley had headed up to the attic to search for any spells or enchantments that may have played a part in his children's disappearment. Everyone else sat at the kitchen table or stood around whispering forlornly while shooting glances at he and Molly. They were acting as if his children were already dead!

The thought made him search for Ginny in the crow. Tto make sure that at least one child was safe. But she was not in the kitchen. He started to feel physically nauseous. He had specifically told her not to leave the kitchen!

Arthur found himself running from room to room frantically yelling for Ginny. She couldn't be gone too, she had to be safe. Finally, panting, he came to the attic and was relieved to found not one, but four heads of red hair beckoning him from the other side of the attic.

Arthur had no doubt that the twins had convinced Ginny to come up there with them when they had somehow arrived without his detecting them. And although Arthur usually left all the disciplining and yelling to Molly, the twins were going to get an ear full from him later that night.

However, there were more important things for him to worry about at the moment. Such as what everyone were yelling about in the far corner.

"…But Ginny how would you explain the footprints leading away from the mirror?"

"Look at them. There's no way any of those are Ron or Charlie's prints. I bet even Tonk's feet aren't that small. Hermione was probably over here and walked away at some point before coming back. Don't you think it's a little suspicious that all their footprints come this way and suddenly stop? They went through that mirror!"

"Although I admit that there are a small number of mirrors out there that can transport objects to another location," Lupin spoke, "We would be able to detect the spells that the mirror works under and even Bill can't find anything."

"Plus," Bill piped in; "these types of mirrors usually have a special spell that basically turns them on. There's no way any of them could have cast an intricate, specific spell that none of them could even know by accident."

"I don't care. I know that this is it, I can feel it. And I will figure out what this mirror is if I have to read every book in Hogwarts!"

"I sincerely doubt that that will be necessary Ms. Weasley."

Arthur was shocked to find Albus Dumbledore standing right next to him. He hadn't even noticed the powerful wizard's arrival.

"It would also be a futile search. You will find nothing about that specific mirror in the Hogwart's library."

"So you know what it is?" Ginny asked eagerly, "What did it do to them, are they okay?"

"I believe that they will be able to sufficiently fend for themselves where it has taken them."

"Well," Fred and George said at the same time, "Where are they?"

"That," Dumbledore replied gravely, "will take some time to explain. Perhaps we should return to the kitchen where we will be more comfortable. The history of this mirror is not a short one."


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Hermione couldn't help but stare at the surrounding landscape. It was so beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that she'd already bumped into Ron three times because she wasn't paying attention to where she was going.

She had never been one to appreciate the beauty of nature, actually she'd never really been one to appreciate beauty at all. Now she could understand why people would stare at paintings of landscapes while she had always preferred reading the artists biography to really care about the color scheme the painter used or the balance he had achieved between the hills and the trees in his painting. But this, this felt like she were actually in one of those paintings. The lush green grass under her feet practically sprang back up after she stepped on it. The sky was a darker blue than she'd ever seen before, and yet still light and cheerful. The mountains in the distance were exquisitely framed by clouds around their peaks and sprawling forests at their bases. Sadly, not too long after they had exited the cave they had lost sight of the most beautiful ocean she had ever seen in her life. The cave had surfaced on a cliff surrounded on three sides by the ocean. In the other direction had been sprawling plains that eventually would give way to the forest in one direction and even a desert in the opposite direction that, oddly, had seemed more yielding to her than a regular desert. It had been practically calling her. But Hermione thought with her head, unlike Ron and Harry who would follow their intuitions without even researching them first, so she had agreed with the others to head for the forest where they could find shelter.

She hoped Harry wasn't too worried about them. The last thing he needed after Sirius' death was his best friends going missing. Luckily, she didn't think that Voldemort had anything to do with the mirror. Plus, she had faith that everyone would figure out what had happened to them and rescue them quickly. And if they couldn't, then she would find a way to get them back home. Harry needed them, plus school was supposed to start in a month. Hermione couldn't afford to miss any time of school; the NEWTS were only one year away! And what if she missed too much and they wanted her to stay behind a year, that was not an option. Sure, she'd have Ron with her, but the humiliation!

They had been walking for hours and the sun was starting to set. Plus, Hermione couldn't keep her mind off of how thirsty she was. But she figured that it would take them at least another four or five hours to reach the edge of the forest and any type of nourishment. They'd probably end up stopping for the night and she would just have to go thirsty. This place might have been beautiful, but she'd still prefer to be up in the relative comfort of the dusty attic of 12 Grimmauld Place any day.

Although Ron knew that he should be taking this whole situation seriously, he couldn't help but enjoy it. So, okay, they had no clue where they were. And, sure, he had been knocked out pretty bad and was now sporting a less than attractive bruise on one side of his face. And, yeah, You-Know-Who could be lurking about ready to capture and torture them at any moment. Or maybe this had nothing to do with the dark wizard, and instead there was a whole tribe of cannibals out on the hunt for them. But Ron chose to ignore all those things and instead focus on the positives. Like the fact that after two months of not being allowed to see the light of day he was now free of 12 Grimmauld Place. The beautiful surroundings, Hermione, his brother, stories about some of the auror missions Tonks had been on. Yep, Ron was thoroughly enjoying himself. Plus, if you looked at it the right way, they were merely embarking upon a thrilling adventure into the unknown. And he figured that between Tonks, Charlie, and himself they'd probably have lots of adventures, even if most would be accidental. In fact, the only thing that was missing was Harry. It didn't seem right to be embarking on a grand journey without him.

That thought succeeded in knocking him back down to earth. This was a serious situation and probably wouldn't be very much fun. Although he and Harry had always had fun together, there usually wasn't much merriment to be found when they were actually faced with a serious situation. He certainly didn't have too much fun when a giant chess piece knocked him unconscious or when he got his leg broken. And he hadn't enjoyed waiting anxiously in his second year to see if his sister were alive. Really, if anything, he should be worried. It seemed like he was always getting hurt or taken out of commission early on.

Great, now he was thinking of the department of mysteries, which was just what he needed.

He had been the first of one to go down. It had been in the planet room and everyone had been wildly casting spells hoping to hit a target. The spell that hit him hadn't even been heading for him. It had actually been heading for Ginny, but she hadn't noticed because she was focused on cursing another death eater. And so he, dumb Ron who never thought as quick as Hermione or Harry, had jumped in front of the spell instead of yelling a warning or pushing Ginny out of the way. Really, Hermione or Harry probably could have deflected the spell; there was a reason he was seen as the third wheel by most outsiders. He had always wondered why Harry and Hermione had never caught on to how inferior he was to them. Hell, even Neville had lasted longer than he had. Not only that, but he'd been a burden during the battle, and then there was the whole mess with the brain. If there were a certification process for failures, he would have passed with flying colors a long time ago.

Ron was still musing over his ineptitude when suddenly; ten or fifteen people were rushing at them on the backs of animals almost the size of dragons. Ron tried to grab his wand from inside of his robes to defend himself but only succeeded in dropping his side of the mirror onto his left foot. Before he could react he was knocked out cold by a curse from one of the strange riders.

Sometime later, Ron woke with a splitting headache for the second time that day. But this time he found himself strapped to the rather large, unfamiliar beast he had gotten a glance of earlier. It also happened to be traveling across the ground a little too quickly for his throbbing head's taste. He was forced to close his eyes to block out the image of all the ground rushing away underneath him. Somehow, he figured that this wasn't going to be the grand adventure he had been dreaming about not too long ago. He just hoped that whoever had captured them didn't plan on killing them. That would certainly ruin his day.

When Ron was able to open his eyes again he was startled to notice that they were headed towards the desert and not the forest like he had assumed. Why would these people, who seemed like they were part of some barbaric tribe live in the desert when they could live in the mountains or on the plains. At least they could grow food in those places, and there would be animals to hunt. Deserts were wastelands, not places to live in. Ron was definitely worried now, what were these people planning on doing to them? Were they going to take them out to the desert and kill them for trespassing on their land? Or worse, maybe his joke about cannibals was about to come true and he was going to be the guest of honor at a barbecue!

Wherever they were going, he hoped that they were going to get there soon or he was going to give himself a heart attack thinking of all the ways these people could kill him.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Somehow I came across my own story here on I had forgotten all about it. This is what I had so far of chapter 7 done but now I can't even remember where exactly I was going with this. I have some new ideas but if anyone has any suggestions feel free to send them to me.

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After Ginny had realized that her brothers, Tonks, and Hermione were missing she had been obsessed with finding them to ensure their safety. Now, she was downright curious. Dumbledore had assured the Weasleys of everybody's safety up in the attic, but his level of secrecy over what had happened to the missing four seemed slightly odd to Ginny.

When they had gone back to the kitchen Dumbledore had actually lied to the order members. He was rather good at lying she noticed. If Ginny had not known the truth she would have easily accepted Dumbledore's story, but, since she did know that the truth she couldn't help but be a little hacked off at Dumbledore's portrayal of Charlie and Tonks. His tale involved Tonks and Charlie confusing a rather tricky demon that Ron accidentally released from an attic closet with an attacking deatheater and immediately evacuating Ron and Hermione to Hogwarts. She had been especially upset when one order member snidely commented that he knew Tonks was clumsy but he hadn't realized quite how hollow her head was.

Luckily, everyone had accepted Dumbledore's explanation that they would be staying at Hogwarts for the rest of the summer. The official reason was for extra training to enable them to better aid Harry in his fight against Voldemort. Everyone had quickly departed and no, the only people left were the Weasleys, Dumbledore, Mad Eye Moody, Remus, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and to Ginny's great dislike Professor Snape.

Ginny couldn't help but wonder why Dumbledore had told everyone that though. Why didn't he want the order members to know what had happened to Ron and Hermione?

Judging from their facial expressions everyone else (except for Snape who had the same annoyed facial expression as always) were wondering the same thing.

"Albus, what has happened to our children?" her father asked while holding onto Molly, who looked like she could use all of the comfort that she could get.

"What I am about to tell you will come as a shock, it may even seem impossible, but you must remember that anything is possible."

"They are on another world."

Everyone, including Snape, stared at Dumbledore uncomprehending.

"What do you mean?" Bill asked.

"I mean that they have traveled to another planet, they are no longer on Earth."

"But that cannot be," Snape spoke up, "Wizards have been trying to discover other dimensions and worlds for thousands of years, it is impossible!"

"Remember, Severus, anything is possible. Do any of you recall ever hearing the legend of the Rurr mirror?"

Ginny was relieved to find that she was not the only one who was bewildered by his question, in fact, only Mad Eye Moody and Snape seemed to know anything about it.

"Everyone knows that's just some legend, Albus, every attempt to find that mirror has failed and people have been looking for it for over 8oo years!"

Mad Eye Moody, for his part, seemed to believe in the Rurr mirror, whatever that was.

"Just because it hasn't been found doesn't mean it doesn't exist," he spit at Snape, "But I'd be hard pressed to believe that it's been sitting around in the Black's attic all these years without anyone realizing what it really is."

"Ah, but you see, Alabastor, it makes perfect sense for the mirror to be sitting around in the Black's attic."

"And why would that be?" Snape asked in a disbelieving tone.

"You are forgetting a vital part of the legend, Severus. It is said that only a direct descendant of the creator of the mirror can unveil its powers."


End file.
